[April 25, 2014]Shocking acts of public violence
continue to dominate the news: shootings at Fort Hood and the
Washington Navy Yard — considered workplace incidents — and a
stabbing at a Pennsylvania high school.

About 2 million employees are affected by workplace violence every
year, according to the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration.

"This is not simply a case of the 24-hour news cycle maintaining
a captive audience with fearmongering," says retired physician
Mohinder Goomar. "In addition to the reported cases of workplace
violence, who knows how many go unreported? A prevalent common
denominator is untreated mental illness," says Goomar, author of
"It's Just My Opinion," which discusses his experience with
dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple
personality disorder.

"Because diagnosis and treatment of mental illness hasn't
progressed much in recent decades, we need to encourage lay people
to be vigilant toward those expressing tendencies that indicate the
potential for violence due to mental illness."

Goomar, who has personally suffered the destabilizing affects of
dissociative identity disorder, reviews indicators of mental
illness, which may lead to violence.

Marginalized or
bullied students or co-workers.

Students interviewed at the
Murrysville, Pa., high school, where 16-year-old Alex Hribal is
accused of stabbing 21 people, have said Hribal is a shy person
without violent tendencies. The FBI, however, has found evidence
that he was bullied online. Human beings are social creatures
who almost always require companionship for mental well-being,
especially for the development of a juvenile. Be sensitive to
those who are socially challenged; pressure from bullying can
have catastrophic consequences.

A consistent and emphatic victimization
position.

After yelling what can be translated in English as
"God is great!" Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan pulled out a pistol
and killed 13 unarmed people in Fort Hood. Later, when Hasan was
representing himself in court, he justified his actions by
saying he was defending a group of Taliban leaders in
Afghanistan, including a man named Mullah Omar. Those who
perpetrate terrible violence often do so citing justice from a
victimized position.

Readily apparent
indicators of paranoia and a history of violent reactions.

Aaron Alexis, the former Navy man who was discharged from the
service for a violent altercation, was nonetheless allowed to
work in the Washington Navy Yard as a contractor. He eventually
shot and killed 12 people and critically injured three. The FBI
later said that he was under "the delusional belief that he was
being controlled or influenced by extremely low-frequency
electromagnetic waves," or ELF. These are clear red flags of
mental illness that were ignored.

An aggressively litigious nature.

The Guinness Book of World Records named Jonathan Lee Richards
the most litigious man, having had court filings against Martha
Stewart and New England Patriots football coach Bill Belichick,
among many others. Having heard of his new title, he filed a
suit against the record-holding institution. Richards also is a
former federal prisoner. Outrageous legal action is another form
of confrontation from those who constantly perceive grievances.

___

Mohinder Goomar is a former medical doctor who, after emigrating
from India, became board-certified by the American Academy of
Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and became an American citizen. He
was chairman of the surgery department at Saratoga Hospital, in New
York, and had a private practice for head and neck surgery. After
experiencing mood swings and a distortion of judgment, Goomar was
diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. He was rehabilitated
at a facility and lost his medical license for two years — to be
followed by reinstatement of the license. Due to his DID experience,
he did not have his license reinstated. His book, "It's
Just My Opinion," details his experience.